NBA Thursday Preview: Knicks vs. Pacers & Warriors vs. Suns

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00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid. Some big upsets in the NBA last night. We'll

00:04review them and go over the landscape for today's college football or college, excuse

00:09me, NBA slate. My gosh, I'm like college football, college basketball. I mean, what can I say,

00:13Brad? There is way too much going on right now in terms of sports. My head is spinning.

00:18So let me reset here for a minute. Let's do the NBA from last night and let's take care

00:24of the NBA tonight and then we'll get on with all the holiday festivities. The Chicago

00:28Bulls last night beat the Cleveland Cavaliers and one of the bigger surprises of their

00:32season. They had lost eight out of nine games, but they end up taking this one. Is this more

00:37of the Cavs just not playing good basketball or is Chicago, as we would say, get back to

00:42what we thought they would be at the beginning of the season? Because certainly they haven't

00:45played well either. I don't think it's either. I just think it was one of those nights where

00:50everything clicked for the Chicago Bulls, right? They shot 56% from the field. They had

00:5612 steals in that game as well. And they were solid from the free throw line. What I really

01:01wanted to highlight about the Bulls too is they were really quick in transition. It was

01:05one of those games where it felt like they had more energy than the Cavs. Felt more like

01:10a one-off though than something sustainable long-term.

01:14The Knicks tonight will take on the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers have had a tough season.

01:18The Knicks are coming off, of course, this cup championship. So I wonder certainly how they're

01:23going to approach this. A lot of questionable players. The odds makers are telling us, Brad,

01:27a lot of guys not going to play tonight for New York. They're minus five. Total two, 24 and a half

01:32game is at 7 p.m. Eastern. Any lean on this one or just so many players out you have to wait and see?

01:39This is going to sound crazy, but if all of the players play for the Knicks, I'd want to take

01:44the Pacers plus the points. But if the Knicks players are out, I'd want to take the Knicks.

01:51It's the injured star theory where it just happens so often in the NBA where the stars sit and the

01:57other team comes out with a very lackluster effort just thinking they're gifted points and gifted the

02:02win there. Now tonight, questionable for the game, Carl Anthony Towns, OG Ananobi, Josh Hart,

02:10and Mitchell Robinson. And out for this game is McBride. And on the other side, of course,

02:16the Pacers are already up against it without Halliburton for the season. So do you anticipate

02:21any of these guys playing for the Knicks here? Or do you think that it could be just a clean

02:25sweep of players out? I think it's going to be a clean sweep of players out for the Knicks.

02:30It just makes the most sense, right? They were literally in Las Vegas playing at a high in a high

02:34stakes, intense basketball game. Now traveling to Indiana, it just doesn't make it doesn't make

02:40sense to have one day off and not allow your players to get some rest and recovery, especially

02:45since the Knicks plan on celebrating with the team on Friday. Like just just feels like let those guys

02:49have the time off because ultimately, even though these players are super important to the team,

02:55the way the Pacers defend, they can realistically win this game with maybe two of those three out.

03:01If the Clippers beat the Thunder tonight, it'll be the biggest upset in the NBA season.

03:06Oklahoma City 17 and a half point favorites. I think this is their biggest line of the year.

03:10Total 220 and a half. Are some players out Brad for the Clippers to tonight? Or is this just the

03:17line when OKC plays LA? It certainly feels to me like somebody's got to be out for LA.

03:22Yeah, James Harden's out. It's also a mixture of both, right? James Harden being out in the Clippers

03:28looking old and slow. It'd be one thing if they looked old and slow and they were defending really

03:34well, like that old man style of basketball, but they're not defending well and they're struggling

03:39to score points. I actually like the Thunder 17 and a half. What a better revenge narrative.

03:44I would have taken their alt line if it wasn't already 17, right? I think they win this game by 20

03:49plus, but there's zero value in taking the 20. I think it was a minus 20 and a half alt line that I was

03:55looking at. I'd rather just take the 17 and a half and take out any fluke backdoor covers.

04:00Yeah, by the way, Clippers 33% cover percentage on the season, which tells you they've been really

04:05as bad as their record indicates. Same with Washington. Same with Sacramento. Let's get to

04:11Houston at New Orleans tonight. Boy, the Pelicans, one of the most anonymous NBA teams. I got to tell you

04:16right now going, I mean, no interest there. They're not selling out games. You could buy tickets for a

04:20buck. Well, people want to see this one tonight. Houston minus nine and a half total to 34 and a

04:25half in New Orleans. I have a hard time backing the Pelicans and you know, the data says you

04:31probably could consider backing the Pelicans, right? They're eight and two against the spread in

04:35their last 10. They've won back-to-back games, but let's not forget those back-to-back games that

04:39they've won were after a span of seven straight losses. I like the Rockets. I think originally I

04:46bet it at minus nine. It's up to minus nine and a half. It's a really good Rockets team that defends

04:50really well. I think the Pelicans are good up against teams that are going to take them lightly,

04:54but the Rockets are such a well-coached team that defends well on top of that. It gives them a massive

05:00advantage. They win by double digits, in my opinion. The Golden State Warriors tonight, one and a half

05:05point favorites on the road at Phoenix. The Warriors not playing great basketball. You got fans

05:11emailing the owner, owner responding. How about that? Total 230 and a half. I know long-term Golden

05:17State's going to probably be better than Phoenix, but Warriors trying to get things turned in the

05:21right direction. I had a hard time getting to the window in terms of a side here. I really did lean

05:28the Phoenix Suns just thinking how bad the Warriors have been on the road, how bad of basketball they're

05:34playing. Like you said, things are not good in this locker room and even the owner acknowledged in that

05:39email. The fact that he even responded that email was wild to me, but I did like a player prop in

05:44this game. I like Devin Booker over four and a half rebounds. It's at plus 130, so if you're afraid

05:51of the extra rebounds, you can take over three and a half at minus 150, minus 145, but I thought you can

05:57go all the way up there. Devin Booker has gone over this number in three of his last five, but more

06:03importantly, I think there's going to be a lot of opportunities for rebounds to guards. Why is that?

06:08Because this is a team that's going to be shooting the three ball a lot and statistically, historically,

06:13teams struggle to shoot the three at a higher rate on the road than they do at home, giving more than

06:18enough opportunities for Devin Booker to collect five rebounds. Brad, the Magic tonight have a tough

06:24test. They got to take on Nikola Jokic at altitude in Denver. Nuggets are six and a half point favorites,

06:29total 236 and a half. Jokic, by the way, his odds a little bit better than they've been to get a triple

06:35double, usually, crazily enough, or minus 140, minus 150. Tonight, it's only minus 105, so I wonder

06:41if the Magic defense, Desmond Bain, could hold him down tonight. I don't know. I think it's lower

06:47because there's a chance that Jokic might not be playing in the fourth quarter. I took Nuggets

06:51minus the six and a half. I also took the over at 232 and a half. I'm fine with the 236 and a half as

06:57well. These teams play at a really high pace, and the Magic haven't been defending as well as they'd

07:02really like to, and they're also dealing with injuries. A really tough game for the Magic.

07:08Brad, happy holidays. Thanks for coming on the show. We'll catch up again next week. Thanks again.

07:12Thanks for having me. Take care.

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